Oglala police chief calls tribal law enforcement funding ‘a joke’ in testimony before Congress • South Dakota Searchlight

“Five minutes is a lifetime when you’re fighting for your life, let alone 30 minutes,” Pettigrew told members of the House Interior Appropriations Subcommittee on Wednesday.

Pettigrew was one of six South Dakota-based tribal leaders who spoke about the needs of Indian Country during the two-day hearings.

All spoke of the gap between federal funding and the needs of law enforcement and education, the latter of which is funded on a per-student basis and less than a third of the rate for the children of active-duty military families, according to information presented during is the hearings.

The Native American tribal nations of South Dakota receive most of their funding for basic public services from the federal government through treaty provisions dating back to the 19th century.

In addition to wait time statistics, Pettigrew told the committee that his office received nearly 30,000 more calls last year than the year before, that his department’s evidence room stored more than 100 guns confiscated from Oglala reservation schools, and that its officers were “overworked, underpaid and on the verge of burnout.”

That could be a tough pill for tribal police to swallow, he said, especially when officers from the Bureau of Indian Affairs, the Federal Bureau of Investigation and state agencies make more money.

“What we are asking for is a budget correction to bring us into line with our federal and state counterparts,” Pettigrew said. “To be honest, I know it will never happen, but something has to happen because 15% is a crazy number. We don’t ask for more than we need. Fifteen percent is a joke.”

Rosebud: 15 police officers, 20 more needed

The prosecution was also the main story for Shere Wright-Plank, vice chair of the tribal council of the neighboring Rosebud Sioux Tribe of the Oglalas.

“The Rosebud Sioux Tribe has half the tribal police officers, the population is twice as large and violent crime was three times as high in 2000,” she said.

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“It is clear that the current funding allocated to the Bureau of Indian Affairs and tribal police, approximately $565 million nationwide, is far from sufficient to meet the true law enforcement needs in Indian Country.”

This time last year, Rosebud Tribe Chairman Scott Herman reminded the committee that the BIA’s law enforcement budget “should be at least $1.2 billion.” Wright-Plank said the deficit indirectly impacts law enforcement outside the tribe.

“As the country grapples with increasing drug and human trafficking, tribes remain a gap in law enforcement, a gap that the federal government must close,” she said.

Rosebud recently declared a state of public safety emergency, she said, as did Oglala late last year. On her reservation, Wright-Plank said, there are 15 tribal police officers, and “we desperately need an additional 20 officers and detention staff.”

“As we strive for economic development, the pervasive problem of drug and alcohol abuse continues to hinder our progress,” she said.

Educators: State schools are ahead

Cecilia Fire Thunder is president of the Oglala Lakota Nation Education Coalition, president of the Little Wound School Board and a member of the Oglala Lakota College Board of Directors.

In their written testimony, Fire Thunder compared federal and state funding for schools. The Oglala Lakota County School District is the only state-funded school system on their reservation, while other schools are either state- or privately supported.

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Public school funding per student is about $16,080, she wrote, citing a 2023 study by EducationData.org. The federal government funded Indian students at $6,910.

“Funding for Indian students is miniscule compared to the only other fully funded federal education system, the Department of Defense Education Agency, which is funded at $25,000 per student,” she wrote.

Career and Technical Education (CTE) programs have shown promise in Indian Country, according to Troy Lunderman of St. Francis Indian School in Rosebud.

Lunderman is human resources director at the school, which launched a CTE program this year.

Absenteeism among CTE students is half what it was the year before, he told the committee, and the school has seen “a 90% increase in student grade point averages.”

“In some cases, some of them had Fs, and now some of them are on the honor roll,” he said.

CTE programs could work for students like those he met in his previous role as a social worker, he said. He spoke of a dropout he worked with in that role who had difficulty with algebra and science in the classroom.

This student never returned to school.

“If CTE had been available back then specifically for that student who enjoyed being a mechanic, with different types of math and different types of science, he probably would have succeeded,” Lunderman said.

But the federal Perkins program, he said, provides only $16 million for tribal CTE programs nationwide.

There is also a lack of federal funding for school resource officers, he said. St. Francis School receives money through the Indian School Equalization Program (ISEP), but Lunderman told the committee that too often schools have to rely on those funds to pay civil servants, maintenance and nutrition staff.

In his written testimony, Lunderman said BIA schools need to increase this funding source “by at least 50%.”

“Without a significant increase in ISEP funding, Indian students will continue to fall further behind their non-Indian peers,” he wrote.